Airbus wants all planes to have wider seats because of you giant freaks

Humans are getting larger. Whether they're growing upwards or outwards, fact is, we're not having a nice time sitting down when travelling on just about any mode of public transport.

With that, Airbus has called on the rest of the aviation industry to set a minimum seat width of 18 inches for long-haul aircraft, saying that rivals were "eroding passenger comfort" with their piddlingly narrow chairs.

This all comes on the back of some research which showed that our sleep quality could be hugely improved it we had slightly wider seats. That'd be chairs, rather than our arses.

Airbus, showing off, already have the 18-inch minimum width in their economy long-haul cabins. If you're in first or business-class, the seating is even wider. Hopefully, they call it a pâté allowance. They said: "Other manufacturers are eroding passenger comfort standards by going back to narrower seat widths from the 1950s in order to remain competitive."

So what's this research all about? Well, it was conducted by Harley Street medical practice The London Sleep Centre. They did tests on a variety of humans looking at brainwaves and eye, abdominal, chest, hip and leg movement.

These tests, handily for Airbus, showed that a minimum seat width of 18 inches improved passenger sleep quality by 53%, compared with the 17-inch standard. Dr Irshaad Ebrahim, of The London Sleep Centre, said: "The difference was significant. All passengers experienced a deeper, less disturbed and longer night's sleep in the 18-inch seat."

Kevin Keniston, Airbus's head of passenger comfort, said: "If the aviation industry doesn't take a stand right now then we risk jeopardising passenger comfort into 2045 and beyond, especially if you take into account aircraft delivery timetables combined with expected years in service. Which means another generation of passengers will be consigned to seats which are based on outdated standards."

Michael O'Leary just spat his coffee all over his desk.

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4 comments

Gordon B.

Airbus may be able to fit 18 inch seats in their long haul cabins, but it doesn't mean that that's what their customer choose. One of the newest planes to roll out of the Airbus factory is BA's new A380 which is complete with 17.5 inch wide economy seats.